2022 - How Modern Gender Values Have Shaped Modern Stoicism Focus - Oral Presentation

Stoic philosophy holds that there is very little that a person can control except their own thoughts and feelings about things. This has led to a philosophy centering around the cultivation of inner virtues, like temperance, courage, practical wisdom, and justice. In the modern resurgence of Stoicism which started in the early nineties and continues today, Stoicism is a philosophy largely characterized by online communities, and active participation in philosophical exercises, in order to cultivate inner virtue in a complex and changing world. However, I argue these modern applications of stoicism have a tendency to become merely an ad hoc application of Stoic thought as a tool for momentary functionality, rather than a life philosophy. The purpose of this paper is to explore this life-hack Stoicism. By taking a brief survey of modern Stoic writings, as they appear in the blogs and other texts of prominent practitioners of what-I-am-calling popular stoicism, I aim to analyze their effects on the Stoic philosophy as a whole, and how it is practiced today. Namely, I will argue that these writings alter the understandings of Stoicism in ways that align with modern ideas of masculinity and taciturn endurance, and minimize the importance of the Stoic virtues of justice and duty. This is a video of the presentation, "How Modern Gender Values Have Shaped Modern Stoicism Focus" given at the 2022 Undergraduate Projects & Research Conference at Salt Lake Community College. The presenter: Emma Wadsworth. The video can be accessed via YouTube here: https://youtu.be/Kh3KzsmFu7s